Open Skies
by Eternal SolarFlare
Summary: Twenty years after Exile...Anarchy threatens as a group of revolutionaries threaten violence and terrorism across Anatory, this is nothing however compared to the threat above, A dark fleet gathers from the blue planet, Earth, intent on claiming Exile...
1. Introduction

Hi there, thanks for taking the time to look at my fict!

Um, this is actually my first proper attempt at writing something like this, i always thought the story of Last Exile had a huge amount of depth and history behind it, this story does have a lot of sci-fi in it, i do take a few liberties with the plot but then again, most stories do, the story insperation came when i finally completed Project Slypheed on X-Box 360, (a fantastic game), into the world of Last Exile i will attempt to give both game and anime the justice they demand! Happy reading, please review and enjoy :)

* * *

Intro

Long, long ago the people of Earth became decadent and power hungry.

The Earth was overpopulated, the seas were polluted, the air was unbreathable, people crowded together in massive megalopolises under a dark sky filled with rushing airships and the great space fleet of the Earth Defence Forces. The moon was colonised and quickly became home to millions of people but still there seemed no solution for the massive overcrowding of the world and the totalitarian governments refused to change their ways. Even the great EDF was unable to find any planets nearby suitable for terraforming and colonisation, mankind seemed doomed to wither and die in its own mess.

Finally a group of idealists came together, they put forwards a vision of a great habitable space station that would be built in space itself in which they could terraform whole planets. The project now called 'EXILE' was set up and for several decades tens of thousands of people worked to create this new graceful spaceship that would carry the colonists and workers out into space where they could start building this new world.

Then, on the eve of the projects unveiling something went wrong.

The previous minister of the project died and a new minister was introduced, this man, unlike his precursor saw the project as a military means, a great space station on which they could build great new weapons and test them without fear, expendable planets on which he and the EDF could test all their great weapons on, in case they ever faced a threat from beyond the solar system.

Horrified by these new plans the idealists of the project quietly gathered the colonists and workers and spirited them away to EXILE far above. Firing the engines the great colony ship flew out into deep space on an uncharted course, far away from the grip of the Earth government, intent on creating a new, safe world for themselves.

The voyage took many years, finally after being sure they had left Earth behind work commenced in a quite section of space, decades passed as the original leaders of the project died and were replaced, the thousands of workers worked tirelessly to create two great worlds entwined inside a protective hourglass that would shield the worlds in case the UEF ever attempted to find them. The thousands of colonists meanwhile remained in a cryogenic freeze, waiting for the work to be complete.

Finally the two worlds were finished and the station as a whole christened 'Prester' as EXILE was moved in between the two worlds and began regulating the climate and weather, turning both worlds into suitable planets.

The colonists were woken and descended onto one of the worlds and colonised the many islands of the sky and founded the Kingdom of Anatoray and the workers of the great project moved to the other world and created the Disith Clans. Meanwhile some further workers and colonists remained aboard EXILE to keep the planets regulated, the weathers fine and the climate steady. They became the great Guild that created the great flying cites that remained between the two worlds and kept peace for several hundred years.

Time passed, the people of Pester forgot who they were, possibly willingly so that the horrors of Earth would be left behind. They went backwards technologically, the colonists working to recreate a perfect society built on honor and dignity and the workers creating a strong, united and hardy people who tamed the lands of Disith with their strength. The Guild however became corrupt slowly and sought to control the worlds and take EXILE once more into the heavens, they did not release that EXILE was hidden in the Grand Stream so that the EDF could never locate it, taking it out would mean that Prester, could be detected from the blue planet…so far away.

That was the story of Last Exile.

And this is what happened, twenty years later.


	2. Interval, The Gathering in Space

Interval One

The massive fleet of spaceships slowly decelerated towards their target. Gouts of fiery flames and exhaust spewed from the behemoths, gradually slowing the fleet, these engines had been firing for the last eight days, gradually bringing the fleet out of its faster then light speed that had taken them weeks to reach as they had left the system of their birth.

Now as the ships decelerated, lights began to flicker on across the hull as the ship's super-computers ran calculated analysis, the voyage was finally over, they had reached their destination.

Rear Admiral Higgins awoke with the taste of bile in his throat and a bright white glaring light full on in his face.

He coughed loudly as above him the protective film of glass opened up and a blast of hot air washed away that fifteen-year-old air out of his lungs. Stepping naked out of the cryogenic pod, his legs buckling at first then becoming steadier he reached over to a nearby desk and picked up the waiting glass of clear water. Dropping two nearby tablets into the water and watching them fizz for a few moments he downed the glass in one gulp feeling it wash away the groggy sense of fatigue still lingering in his body.

"Admiral Higgins sir we have arrived in the Dellios system" The bodiless male voice echoed around the small chamber.

Higgins coughed again clearing his throat. "What's it look like?" The words came out as a pathetic husk of words from a throat that hadn't talked in a long time but the AI would have heard him even if he had whispered or talked in any other Earth bound language.

"The system is perfectly in line with the observations made from Earth." The clipped voice came back in through the speaker system as Higgins began to pull his military attire on. "One B class Sun, two class three uninhabitable worlds and four gas giants, there are numerous comets and an asteroid belt between the third and fourth planet."

"Huh." The admiral grunted as he finished straightening his overalls, careful to check the many shinning gold medals and the ranks of insignia he had won in fifteen years of service in the EDF, well, thirty to this day. He turned to the mirror where a small wash basin was attached to the wall and began to shave the long hairs that had gathered across his face. "Fleet status?"

"All ships are still in formation and accounted for." The AI replied again. "The crew are now thawing out of Cryogenic freeze, ships will be fully combat ready in thirty minutes, ship systems are recharging and our declaration will be complete in five minutes when we will have reached normal cruise speeds. Our FTL drive engines are fully powered down."

"I see." Higgins finished the last of the hairs and quickly smoothing his hair and trimming the first few grey hairs back. "All right Adar." He addressed the AI directly. "Sound condition two throughout the fleet, ready the bridge crew, I will join them in five minutes."

"Yes sir." The AI replied.

Exactly five minutes later the Admiral walked onto the bridge of his flagship, the EDF – Soloist. The massive Terran battleship nearly five thousand meters in length and crewed by over ten thousand men made an impressive sight, huge particle cannons, torpedo launchers, lasgun drives etc criss-crossed the great ships silver hull.

Surrounding the great battleship was the rest of the 11th expedition fleet. Twenty-five destroyers, slim, sleek wedge shaped birds of prey bristling with cannons, five carriers, massive exotic ships housing the fleets fighter ships and four massive troop carriers, each two thousand meters apiece carrying thousands of soldiers and supplies within them.

The bridge of the Soloist was typical of an EDF ship. Circular and built to be basic and functional, desks and consoles sat around a single raised group of three chairs at the centre of the room, directly facing the large viewscreen that showed the rest of the fleet and the far off sun of the Delios system.

As the Admiral entered the twenty bridge crewmen and women stood and raised their fists to their chests as the Admiral strode past them, some he nodded too, greeting friends and comrades he hadn't spoken to during their long, dark voyage.

Finally he reached the central chair between his vice-captain, a tall black haired man of thirty-three years (well he was technically forty-eight but the voyage didn't count) who smiled at his admiral, the other person was harder to read. A strikingly beautiful middle aged, voluptuous woman who had chosen to wear a split dress that showed more then was allowed on an EDF ship, her long red hair swung back in the loose gravity, also longer then regulation length.

The admiral however nodded respectfully to the woman hiding his personal feelings. "Chairman liaison Rachel Cullivin, I request permission to take command of the fleet."

The woman eyed him, a loose smile on her face. "Do so Admiral James Raymond Higgins with the full blessing of the joint Council of Earth and Luna." Even her voice, was soft and extravagant, almost seductive with its rich tone, once again the admiral wondered why she had been sent by the chairman of earth to observe this mission.

"Thank you." He replied inclining his head again, turning in front of his chair he motioned to the rest of the crew. "Please be seated." They sat with a sudden rustling of chairs and the nervous intake of breath. "Adar, patch me through to the rest of the fleet, full band spectrum."

"Yes Admiral." The rustling AI voice sounded, a few seconds later… "Ready"

"Comrades." The Admiral took in a deep breath. "Men and women of the EDF, we have reached our destination, the Delios system. You know our mission, twenty years ago we detected a recognition signature of a ship designed by Earth all the way out here, in this system. Our council was baffled." He continued as he paced across the bridge aware of all eyes on him. "What could this signature be? Finally it was decrypted, it was the engine activation code of an ancient vessel, a legend long thought to have vanished all those years before even our fathers, fathers, grandfather had been born, a ship called EXILE."

Pausing for a quick dramatic silence he drove on. "Yes that's right, EXILE, the first colony ship of earth, the technology to create and maintain artificial worlds, this technology was spirited away when EXILE was illegally flown away from Earth and we have been unable to replicate that technology despite the many advances we have made over the centuries. As you all know Earth is facing desperate times, within a few short centuries she will become uninhabitable, the air un-breathable and her resources all used up. We must have the technology to create worlds so that we might loosen this burden on Earth. We have been tasked to seize EXILE by any means necessary and take it back to Earth where the technology stored in it can be examined and understood. We are doing a great thing for earth, by securing EXILE we are securing the future of the human race!"

Next to him the council liaison nodded grandly, her lips twitching in a smile, the admiral suddenly noticed the glint of red on them, lipstick? Surely not!

"All ships are to remain in formation while we commence scans to focus on EXILE's trail, Admiral Higgins out." He nodded to the communication officer who ended the transmission.

The admiral sank back into his chair as the liaison clapped slowly and Vice-Captain Sudler nodded. "A good speech sir."

"Thank you." The admiral nodded. "Helm, keep us on this heading, begin sweep for radiological trail matching EXILE's engine signature."

"Aye sir!" The replies sounded out.

Seconds passed as the crew worked, next to him the liaison, Rachel Cullivin leaned over her chair towards him. "Admiral." She began in _that_ voice. "Tell me, what have you got planned if, as the council suspect that EXILE created a world on which now the great, great, great (etc) descendants of that project now live on, will we take it by force from them?"

"You know the answer as well as I do ma'am." He replied stiffly refusing to look at her directly. "We must have EXILE no matter what, the future of Earth depends on the technology to create worlds hidden in it, if EXILE has created a world then taking it away will leave that planet without its terraforming abilities, I doubt they will give it away just like that."

The woman clucked in satisfaction. "Good, because you know that the lives of tens of billions on Earth outweigh the lives of this project, they are after all renegades who abandoned us all those years ago, they deserve no mercy."

"I know that." The admiral muttered, then louder. "Any progress on the radiological scans?"

"Yes sir." The triumphant reply came back. "It's very old but the trail clearly matches EXILE's trace, it vanishes suddenly at point six, eight, nine, four, sensors are unable to penetrate that area of space for some reason."

"When the colonists fled earth they planned never to be discovered." Rachel Cullivin spoke up, damn that woman, this was _his_ bridge. "No doubt that is where we shall find the world they created, no doubt protected by ancient clocking fields."

"Thank you chairman liaison." The admiral spoke up standing so that he stood over her. "Gunnery, fire a Xenical torpedo on that heading."

"Aye sir!" The reply came back, then a few seconds later. "Firing!"

The admiral remained standing as out of the bridge he watched as the single specialist torpedo streaked out into the blackness of space away from the fleet. The projectile continued its flight for several seconds fading into a dot as it super-accelerated away from the ship of its birth, away towards its target.

There was a blinding flash of light that for a brief second lit up the void of space with its fury.

The ships AI automatically compensated, the ships viewscreen automatically dimming then fading back as the glare receded. There, hanging against the tapestry of stars and space a new vision had appeared.

Shaped like a massive hourglass the huge object glistened, the admiral almost rubbed his eyes. Such a massive shape was clearly not natural, this had been created by EXILE? Surely now he could see why such a thing was needed if it could create such wonders.

"Cloaking field deactivated." The unnecessary report came in. "Two class nine planets, nitrogen and oxygen levels are similar to that of Earth in the late fourteenth century, we are still unable to detect EXILE's presence though sir."

"I see." The admiral nodded. "Well I didn't expect it to be easy, we're just going to have to comb the planets to find it, helmsman signal the fleet to advance towards the construct, remain at condition two."

"Sir!" The reply came back. "We're detected an ancient shield covering both worlds, it makes it impossible to enter the atmosphere of either world. Nothing short of an atomic barrage will destroy it"

"Hmm." The admiral stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Well we need EXILE in one piece so that's out of the question, can our fighters penetrate the shield and destroy the generators."

A few seconds passed then, "Yes sir, Preybird fighters should be able to slip through the shield and destroy the generator."

"Where is the shield emanating from?" The Vice-Captain spoke up. "Is it from EXILE?"

"It appears to be coming from in-between both worlds sir." The reply came back. "There is a section in-between the worlds where the two atmospheres overlap, its very turbulent, very strong winds can be detected, some-sort of construct is in there, that is creating the shield."

"Very well then." The admiral switched to his air of command. "Take the fleet into orbit above the section between the worlds, once there, launch three squadrons of Preybird fighters, they will destroy the generators and the fleet will proceed into the clouds. If we remain in the gap between the worlds we should be able to maintain a stealthed presence for us to plan our next move."

"Aye sir." The reply's came back.

The massive fleet rumbled forwards again, the proud emblem of the EDF embezzled across the ships as they moved, towards the glittering hourglass station that was so utterly unprepared for the hammer of long delayed justice approaching it.

* * *

EDF – Earth Defence Force, Combined air/space fleet and land army for the protection of Earth and Luna 

Xenical Torpedo – A special torpedo that releases a high-energy pulse that cancels out cloaking fields

Chairman Liaison – A person who represents and speaks for the high council of Earth and Luna

FTL drives – Massive engines that accelerate for weeks to reach the faster-then-light speed

AI – Artificial Intelligence that dwell in ships computers, able to think rationally and plan out missions among other things

Preybird Fighter – Small three-man fighter of the EDF, armed with linked kinetic cannons and a lasgun


	3. Chapter One, The Flash of Light

Anatory Capital - Anatoras

Anatory Settlements - Norkea, Verea Prime, Arrow Head, Sterfergrand, Gorneas

Disith Capital - Disith Prime

Disith Settlements - Dellorias, Volk, Tristania, Buenor-Highgate

Independant Stations – Point Hope, Home-watch, Bartholomew

One - The Flash of Light

"Wake up lazy!"

A cold, yet not entirely unwelcome fist made its presence felt on Raymond Fenix's forehead. The teen groaned and tried to roll over in his cot.

"I said get up!!" The fist pushed harder down on his head, now it was unwelcome.

"Uhhhhh, watsat?" He groaned, (rather pathetically in hindsight)

His brown eyes blurred and opened, standing over him was a tall girl, dyed black hair with a silver streak, her bluer then blue eyes were filled with laughter. "Ah, the hero awakes."

"Alexander?" He mumbled pulling himself up. "What are you doing in here? This is the boys dormitory wing!"

"That's right." Alexander West, his best friend replied standing fully up above him. "And if you call me that one more time you're going to get more then a gentle waking up."

"But…what are you doing in this wing of the flight school!?" Ray reiterated coming more awake sitting up fully in his small cot. "If the commander finds you here…"

"Well she won't." Alex replied suddenly stern. "Did you forget what day it was?"

"Uhhhh." He groaned scratching his short blond hair.

"It's our wing's flight performance day!" She groaned leaning over him again. She gestured her hands along her slim fitting flightsuit. "Don't tell me you forgot, breakfast ended five minutes ago, we gather on the common in six, I wouldn't have come but Ryan said one of us should but he couldn't because he was…"

"Six minutes!" Ray practically leapt out of bed, releasing he wasn't actually wearing much he leapt back in. "Er, Alex, a little privacy?"

"Yeah, yeah." She was already on her way out, opening the small wooden door she turned and winked. "Don't worry tiny, just be down there in five okay?"

Blushing angrily Raymond threw a nearby sock but the laughing Alex had already left, the door swinging shut behind her.

"Girls…" Then more suddenly, "Five minutes!" Dashing out of bed he began to throw clothes on.

* * *

"He's late." Ryan Valerie hissed to Alex as they and fifteen other Vanship cadets lined up on the verdant glass field of the Vanship training union.

Behind them the large grey building rose up around the massive, stadium like hanger bay, a constant traffic of tiny vanships were always raising and falling from the dome into the blue sky above.

"Shush." Alex hushed looking up at the light puffy clouds above. "Look, it's a beautiful morning, relax."

"But he's holding us all up!" Ryan urged flicking his long grey hair back impatiently.

"Ryan Valerie do you have something to say?" The flight instructor asked harshly, cutting through the morning sounds of bird song.

"No ma'am!" Ryan saluted coming to attention instantly as the tall woman walked over to him, her blond hair streaked with grey but her blue eyes sharp and firm.

"Mrs Tatiana, we're just concerned for our friend, Raymond." Alex put in. "You know, he'll be here any moment."

"Well he better be." Tatiana nodded looking down at her chronometer. "He's got about…thirty seconds."

"Guys!…" A cry came out across the field.

Pushing his way through two other pilots Raymond's form came into view as he, half hopped across the field placing on his other shoe.

Ryan remained stiff but Alex raised a hand in greeting as Raymond finished placing the shoe on and came to stand on Ryan's other side. "Ma'am!" He smartly saluted Tatiana who was watching without the faintest air of humour. "Flight pilot Raymond Fenix reporting for duty!"

"Huh, just in time." Tatiana looked at her chronometer. "Another ten seconds and you'd be doing thirty press-ups, now listen up cadets!" She rose her voice bringing all eighteen faces to her. "Today is you're first official mission for the Anatory Vanship Union that you've all trained for the last three years to get into, I'm going to split you into pairs randomly, one of you will pilot and the other will navigate. You will all be given a two star mission and be expected to carry it out and be back here in twenty-four hours. All vanships will be monitored by the guild 'eyes' and you will be graded on you're flight, precision, dedication and teamwork, is that understood!?"

"Yes ma'am!" The cadets all barked back.

"Good." Tatiana replied reaching down for one of two large black hats. "I'm going to draw two names out at a time, the first will be the pilot, the other the navigator, once you've heard you're names go and stand over to the right." She gestured loosely over to the other side of the common. "Matthew Taylor and…Sophia Westwood." She shouted out the first names.

There was a groan from the girl and much backslapping among several boys.

"Lauren Chaser and…Rosie Raydown." ("Where we're you" Ryan hissed over to Raymond. "Please don't tell me you forgot.")

"George Freeman and…James Lad." ("No, I just, er…" Raymond broke away. "Slept in." Alex completed leaning over. "Really, I don't know how you manage it.")

"Alexander West and…Darias Du Lusic."

"Guess that's me." Alex waved at them as she moved out of the line followed by a rather large…slobbery looking boy whom looked as though the sun had just risen for him. "Seeya later." She muttered, moving over to stand with the rest of the pairs, Darias moving closer then necessary to her Raymond thought.

"Hope she'll be okay…" Ryan wondered aloud. "She's a better Navey."

"She'll be fine." Raymond touched his friends elbow reassuringly as they both watched Alex edge a step away from the other boy. "Still what luck to get him."

"Pah." Ryan spat as Tatiana reached into the hat again. "That's some nobles son from Anatoras, he won't even be able to fit in the pilots seat."

"You shouldn't hate him so." Raymond felt alarmed at Ryan's anger. "I know…being a Disith migrant you've been treated badly by some Anatory nobles but…you shouldn't hold it against every noble you meet."

"I can't help it." Ryan seethed as Tatiana pulled the paper up to her eyes again. "When I and my mother fled here ten years ago the Anatory nobles treated us like dirt, my mother _had_ to get a job and I _had_ to enrol in this Vanship union…and because of all that work she _had _to do, she died."

"But you don't regret coming here do you?" Raymond asked slowly.

Ryan looked at him, and smiled and gripped his friends arm. "Not any more."

"Raymond Fenix and…Ryan Valerie." Tatiana spoke out, then looked up at them. "You gentlemen care to explain why you're holding hands?"

A titter ran out among the cadets, the noble's son chuckled loudly, Alex fixed him with a piercing look.

"Ah, just encouraging my pilot ma'am." Ryan managed.

"Oh, good." Tatiana's eyes followed them. "Well, go and join the others then."

The two boys moved away from the diminishing group of cadets to go and stand by the other pairs.

"Well what luck." Ryan pointed out. "At least I get to see you're awful piloting in action."

"Hey!" Raymond elbowed the other boy. "I'm more then you're match in any dogfight."

"Ha!" Ryan laughed looking down at him (he was slightly taller see) and grinned. "One day…"

"One day." Raymond agreed smiling.

Tatiana spent the next few minutes calling out the squads and then when the nine pairs had drawn up she moved forwards with the second black hat and presented it to the first pair. "Here are nine mission tubes, pick one randomly."

One by one the pilot of each pair reached in and picked up one of the shinning tubes, when Tatiana came to Raymond he reached forwards but Ryan beat it to him and pulled out a random tube. "Gotcha." He laughed. Tatiana moved on.

Finally when they all had their missions Tatiana surveyed them all again. "All right, you all have you're missions, you have thirty minutes to read and get the necessary items and then meet at the Vanship hanger bay to get a ship, dismissed."

"Come on Alex, let's go and share missions." Ryan called out to her as he Raymond moved to sit under a nearby apple tree. Raymond caught a quick despairing look as she shrugged as the noble's boy, Darias was skipping off with the message tube in one flabby arm towards the compound.

"Why I'm going to…" Ryan shook with anger.

"Hey, you have problems, let it go." Raymond grabbed his shoulder forcing him down under the shade of the tree. "She's a tough girl, she can handle it." Still he felt a strange twitch…he'd wanted to be pared with Alex…"Come on, I have some third water, lets share it out and look over the mission plan."

"Alright." Ryan grudgingly agreed tearing his eyes away from the departing Alex and the other cadets as together they thumbed open the two star danger seal and opened the tubes contents.

Just as they pulled out the sheet of parchment a bright, blinding light shone above dimming out the clouds and sun for a split second.

Cadets caught out in the open cried out covering their eyes, Raymond and Ryan in the shade of the apple tree were better off. The light faded away a moment later.

"Whoa, what was that?" Raymond gasped. Tatiana over on the common was studying the skies apprehensively.

"Probably just some reflection from Disith." Ryan shrugged off the phenomena. "Lets look on it as a good omen for our mission."

"Yeah." Raymond slowly agreed. "If you say so…"

The open skies above glowed down on them, the puffy white clouds rushed away as the bright morning sun shone down on them once again.

* * *

AVU – Anatory Vanship Union, carries out courier and sub-military duties on rapid deployment vanships

Anatoras – Capital City of Anatory, Empress Sophia rules from here, home to the great Titan shipyards

Third Water – Medium quality water (from first to fifth), standard type of water after EXILE's rebirth

The Guild – Reformed Guild that dwells in the Grand Stream aboard great skycites, wisely led by its leader

Guild Eye's – Tiny drones that conceal little cameras, called on for use following Vanship cadets or spying


	4. Chapter Two, The Eye of Rhonda

Two

"We're to deliver a message to the free trading station of Bartholomew, just south of the Eye of Rhonda." Ryan read aloud again for the umpteenth time. "The message is entitled to the captain of a ship berthed there, the 'Ramamla' an Anatory battleship currently on leave."

"The Eye of Rhonda?" Raymond mused, more interested in his ham sandwich in his hands as the two friends walked down the grey corridor twenty-five minutes later towards the Union hanger. "Isn't that one of the only clear passages through the Grand Stream?"

"That's right." Ryan replied "Although after the 'Guild Wars' twenty years ago the Grand Stream was briefly cleared for whatever reason it reformed several years later, EXILE did create some paths through it though. Although 'clear' is hardly the right word to use, freezing winds of up to a three hundred kilometres an hour, no visibility, hardly no air either…good job we don't have to go into it though, Bartholomew is on the Anatory side, bout, two hours flight maybe?"

"Uh-huh." Raymond managed around the last bites.

"Come on." Ryan motioned towards the hanger door. "Let's go."

The doors opened into the expansive hanger.

At the heart of the Anatory Vanship Union building was the Vanship hanger-bay, a massive hub of activity as large as the massive Starza Stadium on Disith Prime, the Disith capital city. Racks of Vanships were visible, many ships constantly taking off and landing through the open roof, people dashed every which-way loading luggage and taking missions onto larger frigates that filled the hanger. The noise was deafening.

Raymond was still busy taking in all the sights when he saw off to one side Tatiana and several other cadets all in their pairs standing by a line of nine glistering Vanships. Grabbing Ryan he pulled the other teen over towards Tatiana who looked up from her clipboard to nod curtly.

"Good, that makes all the groups then." She glared at the all before turning to the nearest silver Vanship and running one hand lovingly along its graceful metal curves. "You're Vanships are fully fuelled and ready to go, as I said earlier each Vanship is fitted with a Guild Eye so we're be with you all the way, If you get into any trouble or for any reason you have to abort the mission there is an emergency distress flare in the navigators compartment, of course none of you will be needing it, will you!?" She asked snapping her hand away from the Vanship and glaring at them all again.

"No ma'am!" All the cadets blasted back snapping to attention, Raymond…choked on the last dregs of his sandwich and bent over hacking.

When he looked up all the cadets we're staring at him, the fat noble boy, Darias was sniggering and Alex was glaring at him again which brought such a feeling of elation to Raymond that he stood straight again ignoring the other cadets.

"Well, dismissed." Tatiana finished eyeing Raymond like a cockroach. "Pick any ship and good flying." She turned and marched off.

"You okay now?" Ryan asked Raymond ignoring all the other cadets who instantly rushed to try and lay claim to the best-looking Vanship.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Raymond replied searching round to see Alex helplessly wave from a nearby Vanship which Darias was already eagerly squeezing his wide bulk the navigator's back seat.

"Come on then!" Ryan laughed grabbing his younger friend's shoulder and steering him over to the last Vanship that rested in the corner of the hanger. Already around them some cadets were seated and the new roar of Vanship engines starting up began to fill the chamber with even more noise as the first pair took off into the azure skies.

Ryan and Raymond however took their time with their ship.

"Okay then." Ryan grinned from behind Raymond as he set himself down into the pilot's seat. "Hope you're gonna fly a little better then you were last week."

"And I hope you map-read better then we did in class yesterday." Raymond jested back getting a snort from behind him.

Buckling himself into the open topped cockpit and fitting his flight helmet he lowered his visor and twisted the ignition.

Below the ship the Claudia thruster began thrumming, spinning rapidly round and round becoming a blur of motion.

"Claudia pressure?" Raymond called out running through the list of pre-flight checks.

"We're good." Ryan's call came back as the small blue spec of distilled Claudia rose up into the stable zone in his readout.

"RPM indicator?"

"Operational."

"Fuel?"

"She's full."

"Instrumental?"

"All working."

"And we're away." Raymond grinned as he pushed the throttle forwards and pulled the stick back.

The Claudia unit worked itself up to a fury and the silver Vanship, the last one, pulled up smoothly in an arc, whipping up around the hanger and up and out of the wide open hatch into the skies.

Raymond kept the stick steady but pushed the throttle all the way as the Vanship pulled further away from the black Vanship Union building centred in the middle of the tiny island in the clouds.

"Right, we need to head east, make it about 84 degrees." Ryan's voice sounded from behind him barely heard over the rushing winds.

"Roger that." Raymond yelled back and pulled the stick round to the right watching the magnetic compass tick…until it finally rested exactly on 84 degrees.

Finally Raymond levelled the ship out, the roar of the Claudia unit had faded to a dull hum, all around blue skies stretched out as far as the eye could see, below the grey clouds of Anatory, far behind the Vanship Union island could be seen as a dot of black and green against the grey. Above was the massive boiling mass of clouds that made up the Grand Stream, beyond it lay Disith, Ryan's homeland Raymond found himself thinking, impossible to reach except for a few special passageways regulated by the Guild. One of which, was the Eye of Rhonda.

"Okay." Ryan's voice sounded again cutting through Raymond's thoughts. "We just hold this heading until we reach signal buoy three, then we turn north-east on a heading of 32 degrees, you got that sleepy?"

"Got it!" Raymond replied and concentrated on the skies. They were being watched, he knew by the Guild Eye cameras, he was determined to pass this, the final flight performance day so after this he, Ryan and Alex would be certified Vanship couriers. He knew his mother and father all the way back in Anatoras, the capital city of Anatory would be so proud of him if he passed, but Ryan, Ryan had no parents to impress and Alex never talked about hers so…he guessed it must be different for other people.

"I can see the signal buoy ahead." Ryan's voice floated forwards to him. "Prepare to change heading to 32 degrees."

"Got it!" Raymond replied concentrating once more.

* * *

Between the two of them they we're able to cut the flight time down to about an hour and three-quarters, it was nearing noon therefore when the independent station of Bartholomew filled the skies ahead.

Nearly a kilometre wide, the free station was a hodgepodge of metal towers, arcs and domes that rose up from a central 'disc' shape structure, rising up at the centre of it all was the massive 'freedom tower,' that provided home to the six thousand souls that called Bartholomew their home.

"Alright, we're coming in." Ryan shouted from behind. "The hanger Union hanger bay is on the east side of the station, we should be able to track down the Ramamla once we're down."

"Looks like there are quite a few Anatory battleships here." Raymond noted swinging the Vanship wide to the east avoiding an incoming Anatory cargo frigate. Four massive Anatory battleships were indeed nestled against the station.

Tied down to the tall arcing towers that rose up on all sides the four, five hundred meter long ships hung at ease in the blue sky, the row upon row of cannons glistering in the light.

"What's four Anatory battleships doing here?" Ryan called out as behind he worked the signal light expertly, flickering the message to Bartholomew. "With all their crew they'll outnumber the people living here."

"Don't worry." Raymond replied back. "This place makes a living as a trading post between Anatory and Disith, also they have some of the largest casinos and gambling centres in Prester. As Anatory and Disith have been getting along peacefully for the last twenty years under Empress Sophia its not like Anatory have need of their fleet, their probably on shore leave at the moment."

Ryan coughed loudly from back. "They're giving us permission to land." He pointed towards the flickering white light from the top of one of the towers on the edge of Bartholomew. "And I wouldn't say Anatory and Disith have been getting along peacefully, remember that big faction push in Disith, a lot of people still feel angry that Disith citizens aren't allowed to migrate to Anatory."

"They are in moderation." Raymond sighed, they'd be over this many times. "Its just Anatory can't support all these people that want to move in. That Disith faction that carried out the terrorist bombing of the Anatory water depot in Norkea two years ago has just hardened the people against Disith all the more, that's all, it'll all blow over in a few years."

"That's what you say." Ryan muttered just loud enough for Raymond to hear. "The Disith Revolutionary movement is stronger then you think, I hear they want to raid Anatory and take the land and water for themselves."

"It's a load of hot air." Raymond replied back confidently as he swung the Vanship down towards a small slit in one of the towers that rose along the edge of Bartholomew. "You'll see."

Ryan didn't say anything.

Moments later the Vanship had touched down in the gleaming silver hanger, a few dozen other Vanships lay nestled in the corners and two jumbo Vanships hung, suspended from the roof but otherwise the hanger was devoid of life.

Leaping out of the Vanship after Raymond had taxied it into an open berth the two friends moved together, Ryan holding the message tube they had received from Tatiana.

"So, where to then?" Raymond asked Ryan.

"Let's go to the ships registry." Ryan replied sweeping his longish hair back. "We can find out where the Ramamla is docked and then head over there, drop of the message and go for a few drinks before heading back."

"Sounds good to me." Raymond quickly agreed. "Let's go."

Together they moved out of the hanger, down a flight of stairs and into the main dome of Bartholomew that made up the huge disc structure that all the living/docking towers were built on.

All around people hustled and bustled. The dome stretched out in all directions, bars, shops, casinos, water traders all had there own individual areas and all around people drank, traded and talked, the dome was filled with noise. Over in the far distance even a horseclaw racetrack could be seen surrounded by eager men and women calling on their favourites to win, all around money was changing hands and sometimes even, more then just money.

"Come on." Ryan said in disgust to Raymond. "I can see the Ships registry booth over there." And so saying he began to push forwards, through the crowd.

Raymond followed closely behind, most of the people were indeed Anatory soldiers, many were dressed in the smart blue uniforms with gold buckles, some wore extravagant medals and the like but most wore none, since that had been no real conflict in the last twenty years that had been no easy way to win them.

Most of the men looked young, many also looked drunk, here and there an officer staggered about looking completely lost, off to a corner a shout could be heard and when Raymond turned a gang of Anatory soldiers had surrounded two people, cheering them on. Raymond could see the faint stain of blood on the floor. He hurried on feeling a little sick.

Finally breaking out of the crowd they reached the ships registry. A small yellow table with a tall stand with the words 'ship registry' smartly written on wood was all that was there. A nervous middle aged women in a red dress sitting on a chair behind the table looked up at the expectantly.

"Yes, can I help you sirs?" She asked them after a moment's silence.

"Yes, we're looking for the captain of the Ramamla." Raymond replied smiling kindly.

She didn't smile back.

"Let me see…" She replied shuffling through some paper on the table, after a few moments she stopped at one and looked back up. "Docking tower six, Captain Louis, you can reach the tower just, over there." She pointed to, in the distance a door leading off the central dome

"Thanks a lot." Ryan replied turning back with Raymond to look over the crowd, over to one side the fight seemed to stop, the crowd had dispersed but Raymond could see a bloodied body resting on the floor. People moved round it as if it didn't exist. "Look at this." Ryan grumbled. "These Anatory pigs are making a mess of this place."

"Yeah…" Raymond agreed half heartily well knowing his friends dislike of the Anatory airfleet. "You have to remember though, a lot of them will be young cadets who joined up for adventure, the Anatory fleet has no real objective at the moment so they have a lot of energy to spare."

"Uh-huh." Ryan replied sounding unconvinced. "Come on then, let's push through this crowd again, might as well try and get this message delivered."

After a few more minutes of slipping through the raucous crowd they finally made it to the doorway. Moving up it and around a fresh wave of Anatory shore-leavers they eventually made it to the umbilical corridor, a flexible corridor that extended up into the massive battleship that rested overhead. A single Anatory solider stood on guard, a high-powered steam rifle in his hands.

"Scuse-me sir." Raymond said coming up to him as Ryan hung back. "We have a message tube for Captain Louis."

The solider looked down at them, uninterested. "Captain Louis is somewhere in the station, give it to me, I'll see he gets it."

"Can we do that?" Ryan hissed in Raymond's ear as the solider gave him a wary look. "I thought we have to deliver it personally to him."

"We'll never find him in that crowd." Raymond replied before taking the message tube from Ryan and passing it to the solider who took it after a moment of thought. "Can you sign this sheet and put you're identification number on it please." Raymond continued pulling forth the tiny book in his flying coat and bringing out a small ink pen from another pocket.

Grumbling the solider put down the rifle, resting it against the wall and signed and dated the paper before handing it back to Raymond. "Right, now run along." He replied. "Little kids shouldn't be running around here."

"We're going now, thanks sir." Raymond bowed and turned moving back down the staircase with Ryan who hissed.

"You shouldn't have been so nice to him; he was really rude to you."

"Does it matter?" Raymond shrugged. "We delivered the message; now let's get out of here, that drink will have to wait for another tim…"

He broke off as suddenly the entire station shuddered and a massive thunderclap was heard. Raymond steadied himself against the wall as the floor shook.

"What was that!?" Ryan called out.

There was another clap of thunder and another and the station rocked again and a siren somewhere began blazing.

"Come on, back up here!" Ryan shouted turning and running back past the startled guard to a window slit that offered them a view up towards the Eye of Rhonda.

Like a giant whirlpool of grey sky that led up into the maelstrom of the Grand Stream a dozen objects could be seen dropping out of it and towards Bartholomew. There was a series of flashes from the objects and then suddenly the station lurched again as projectiles smashed into it.

"Can you make them out!?" Raymond cried in despair.

"…They're Disith ships." Ryan slowly replied. "The lead one's flying the flag of the Disith Revolutionary Movement, they're coming straight for us."

* * *

Eye of Rhonda – One of the main safe passageways through the Grand Stream between Disith and Anatory.

Guild Wars – The name for the war between the Guild and the United Anatory and Disith, ended by EXILE.

Bartholomew – An independent trading depot between Anatory and Disith, located by the Eye of Rhonda.

DRM – The Disith Revolutionary Movement, a group that advocates war and terrorism against Anatory.


	5. Interval, Political Play

Interval Two – Weaves of Politics

At exactly 14:51 Greenwich Earth standard the mighty EDF fleet had completed its final checkouts, all the particle cannons were charged, torpedo launchers had been loaded and lasgun drivers crackled with energy.

The EDF Soloist, the flagship and primary battleship sat at the centre of the fleet as they drifted in a perfect orbit around the turbulent clouds that raged between the two worlds. Despite the fact that their were checkouts to perform, weapons to be checked and Preybird fighters to be fuelled the pilots and soldiers of the 11th expedition fleet could not help but steal looks down on the artificial planets hanging together bare miles from each other, the planets that their arrival had doomed.

Rear Admiral Richard Higgins had been in the main war-room with his Vice Captain and close friend, James Sudler, an Indonesian by birth from the Mega-city of Jakarta whom he had bonded with in his time at the orbital EDF training facility, Titan, now they sill worked together. He as the admiral and Sudler as his Vice-Captain.

"Preybird squadrons, Black Knights, Lunar Wolves and Guilty Roses will descend into the maelstrom between the planets and home in on the shield generator." Sudler was saying gesturing at a computer holographic table which showed the two worlds and the maelstrom between them, three small preybird indicators were shown descending from the fleet into the clouds. "The three squadrons will lock onto the shields location and destroy the target with a precision missile bombardment, if that fails they will destroy the target using their kinetic weaponry."

"What about resistance?" The Admiral asked looking down at the projected display, which showed a small space station, modelled on an old earth design, hanging between the two worlds being effortlessly destroyed by the holographic preybirds. "Have you a contingency plan?"

The captain made a gesture and the holographic battle plan vanished to be replaced by a massive floating depiction of the two worlds. "We've detected no evidence of anything even twenty-first technology wise or beyond, nor are there any orbital probes, space satellites or otherwise. Of course both planets are eletromagnetically scrambled by the shield generator so we won't get a clear scan of the planets until we've destroyed the shield protecting the planets."

"As for resistance." The captain coughed politely running a hand through his short black hair. "Our Preybirds are next generator fighters, their armour will protect them from almost everything and are manned by the best men and women of Earth and Luna, they will not fail. The alternative…" He took a deep breath. "The Soloist is as you know carrying a full payload of twenty-four tactical fifth-generator nuclear warheads, three of them detonated at these locations…" A hand gesture showed three red circles in a triangle shape around the two worlds, just outside the shield. "…Would create enough radioactive and electromagnetic fallout to short out the shield, that's the alternative, sir!"

"That is unacceptable!" The admiral shook his head. "We will use the preybirds."

"Sir…permission to speak freely?" Sudler asked suddenly.

"Of course old friend." The admiral replied instantly.

"Well, its just…" James began with some difficulty. "Both planets are going to be inhabited, women, children, the elderly, if we take EXILE away the planets terraforming will fail and both planets will be uninhabitable in a matter of months. If we mean to take EXILE we could just nuke both planets to be sure of no resistance, unethical but it would be a simple and easy step, especially if both planets will die without EXILE anyway."

"I will not be responsible for genocide!" Higgins replied, his voice raising and booming unexpectedly round the otherwise empty war-room. "Yes the people may die after we take from them that which keeps them alive but I will not be linked in history books to historic atrocities like the holocaust, we will do our military duties but will not sink to the level of atomics. We will only target military installations or facilities that prevent our mission."

"You may have to do better then that admiral." The soft, seductive female voice said practically in his ear.

The admiral almost jumped out of his skin, turning, hands fumbling for the side-arm that wasn't there. Chairman liaison Rachel Cullivin stood practically a meter away from him. "How the devil did you get in here!?" Higgins demanded before he checked himself. "I am in a private meeting with my Vice-Captain and I told the guards I was not to be disturbed."

"Yes but as a Terra Chairman Liaison I speak with the authority of the Combined Council of Earth and Luna and the EDF fleet is sworn to obey their orders and thus you, and all you're man and women have to obey my orders." Momentarily struck dumb by the liaisons sweeping statement Higgins fell silent looking down at the woman who allowed a small smile to grace those bountiful red lips. "But don't worry gentlemen, I intend to leave you fully in charge so long as our search for EXILE continues without incident, as soon as the shield is deactivated I assume the Admiral is planning to take the fleet into the atmosphere and find and recover EXILE instantly?"

"Yes ma'am." Sudler spoke up next to Higgins, he also sounded as stupefied as the admiral felt. "We were just getting onto that part." "In that case I will take no more of you're time up." She smiled again and inclined her head to both of them, her silvery dress shimmering around her and that long red hair sweeping around her head as she straightened and glided out of the war-room, past the two armoured Terran guards as if not even noticing them standing outside the doors on the corridor and disappearing from sight.

The door shut smoothly behind her. Higgins turned back to his vice-captain. "Did you see her come up behind me like that?" He demanded. "I swear I never heard her come in." "

I'm sorry sir…" Sudler looked visibly shaken which was a dangerous sign, Higgins had never seen him shaken like this before even when facing down a platoon of Genetic infantry single-handedly in Rio, nor had he flinched when he had pressed the button that launched fourteen nuclear missiles at the self proclaimed European free-cites during the Apocalypse Wars. It had been that which had secured him a mission to retake EXILE, he was a man who would do anything to complete the mission set before him, that the woman had shaken him like so was worrying. "I was concentrating on you and I swear I never saw her come in, it was if she just…appeared out of thin air." The man finished.

"No-one can do such a thing James." Higgins chastised.

"I don't know..." James Sudler continued. "I've heard lots of rumours about the chairman's liaisons, some people whisper that they have, well, special powers. They can look into a mans innermost heart and know instantly what they need, they can be anyway in the world in seconds and they personally carry out the chairman's orders on the behalf of the United Earth and Luna government."

"Well, there's an easy way to clear this up." The admiral said decisively and moved to the door leading out of the war-room, which opened as he approached it. Moving to the rightmost armoured guard on the corridor he waited as the guard instantly snapped to attention, hand flying to the forehead in salute.

"Solider!" He barked. "Did you allow the Chairman Liaison access to this room?"

"Sir, no one has entered or left this room since you and the Vice-Captain entered, you gave me orders not to let anyone in sah!" The man barked in perfect military fashion, yet the words sent a chill down the admiral's spine.

"And yet the Liaison just left the room through these doors and walked right past you, did she not?" He pushed on.

"Sir…? No-one has left this room." The solider replied again a tone of confusion infringing on the mans voice. "I have seen no-one."

"And you private?" The admiral demanded turning to the other man standing at the other side of the door. "Have you also seen no-one enter or exit the war-room?"

"No sir." The solider replied smartly, then suddenly more hesitant. "About a moment ago sir I felt a swish of cool air pass by me but when I looked the door was shut and no-one had passed me, I thought it but a malfunction in the ships air-con."

"This ship is an EDF battleship with a linked AI, we do not have 'malfunctions' on such a ship." The admiral snapped angrily. "Thank you soldiers, you are dismissed."

"Sah!" Both men saluted and marched off down the brightly-lit corridor. Higgins stalked back into the room to face Vice-Captain Sudler.

"Darn it! Both men claim to have seen nothing yet both you and I know that she somehow got into this room and then walked out right in front of their eyes yet both men claim to have seen nothing!? How can this be James?"

"I do not know…" His Vice-Captain replied shaking his head helplessly. "You must not go against her Richard, she has strange powers, I know it and it is said that the chairman liaisons can kill with but a flick of their wrists, she can remove you and elect an admiral of her own choice if you don't do as she wishes."

"And you old friend?" Higgins asked him gently. "Who would you follow?"

"You do not even have to ask sir!" Sudler saluted smartly coming fully to attention. "We fought the Apocalypse War on Earth and the AI Wars on Luna together and you know I would give my life for you without a seconds thought."

"Thank you James." Higgins smiled grasping his friends shoulder with one hand. "Now, go. I want the preybird pilots fully briefed and ready to launch in two standard hours, once that is done we will scan both worlds for EXILE, fly in, take control of it and leave this system behind us before that woman can do anything to stop us."

"Yes sir!" Sudler saluted again before looking him in the eye again. "But be careful sir, she is not to be underestimated."

"I know that." Higgins replied a faraway look in his eye. "In the AI wars when most of our technology was rendered inoperable you had to live one day to the next because you never knew when it might be you're air scrubbers that might fail and doom you to death. Here in the blackness of space who knows what accidents might happen. We must be very careful old friend but if we have to…" He smiled. "The chairman liaison may find herself at the forefront of one such 'accident' maybe?"

The fleet rumbled on. Below Prester glowed silver, unaware.

* * *

Luna – The only moon of Earth, home to sixteen billion people and the orbital EDF training station, Titan. 

Apocalypse Wars – Seven-year nuclear war between the Earth/Luna government and a coalition of central earth-based 'free' states, over four billion died and thirty-four percent of the Earth's surface was turned into radioactive desert.

AI Wars – War between Earth/Luna government and a faction of AI hackers that took control of seventy percent of Luna and almost every computer controlled object as well as taking control of legions of Genetic infantry that laid waist to Earth and Luna killing sixty-four million people before the hackers were eventually hunted down and executed.

Genetic Infantry – Men in powered exoskeleton battle-armour who are permanently linked to an AI, the ultimate solider, many were corrupted during the AI wars and only a few survived into the modern era.


	6. Chapter Three, Raid on Bartholomew

Three

The twelve ships, a fighting _docena_ lowered carefully out of the Grand Stream the graceful white hull plates squealing and buckling from the intense wind speeds and pressure but as they moved further away from the Eye of Rhonda the sounds of hull stress ceased.

"We have cleared the Grand Stream" A spotter called out form his console on board the lead Disith Revolutionary movement ship, the 'Armand.'

"Prepare all cannons to fire on the Anatory battleships." Dunya Shetland called out. "Secondary targets are the Bartholomew's communication array and the Anatory Embassy tower."

"Yes ma'am." The vice captain nodded relaying the order to the rest of the fleet through the light tubes, blinking the message to the other ships.

"Are you sure about this Dunya?" Her thirty-nine year old husband, Mullin Shetland asked from his position next to her, as usual he had a fretful look on his face. "By doing this we are declaring war on Anatory."

"I know." Dunya replied keeping her brown eyes fixed on the huge floating station and the four Anatory battleships far below them, nestled against the station. "But the Disith Clans refuse to act, they just sit there, we don't have enough water, enough space, enough medicine for our population. We, the DRM have no choice but to take water and land for ourselves." She turned now, focusing more on Mullin. "Like me you were once a musketeer, save on the Anatory side, they forced you to walk out of those battleships and shoot point blank at Disith musketeers twenty years ago, you know how they treat people, just like rubbish, it's you're invaluable advice and knowledge of Anatory that's allowing us to take such bold steps."

"I know dear…" Mullin admitted looking crestfallen. "It's just, I never wished I had to see war like this again."

"We have no choice!" Dunya said passionately grasping her husbands arm and looking up at him. "We're only targeting Anatory military facilities, we will make them see what they are doing to us and they'll give in eventually. We have much of Disith's youth supporting us, the Disith council can't stop us and that's what they'll say to Anatory, behind their backs though they know we're doing what is right."

"I know…" Mullin admitted looking back at her. "That's why I left my friends in Anatory and moved to support you in this movement; they can't be allowed to get away with how they treat us."

"Exactly!" Dunya smiled. "We'll make them see reasons."

The twelve ships had fanned out completely now, inquiring messages from Bartholomew had been sent to them but the twelve ships continued their silent descent towards the station. Then, with a shudder of metal, sections along the ships underbelly opened up.

From these holes racks of spiked gun turrets lowered until the fleet bristled with its deadly hidden weaponry.

"Cannons ready to fire!" The Vice Captain saluted Dunya, another young man, just like everyone else on the bridge…apart from Mullin and herself, Dunya found herself thinking.

"Very well, commence fire!" Dunya called.

"Commencing fire!!!" Weaponry called out as he punched in buttons.

There was a second's pause and then with a sustained cackle of thunder the ships let loose a deadly volley of shots at the Anatory ships.

Some shots missed, plunging into the clouds, a few were miss-aimed and (regrettably) struck the station but the vast majority of shots smashed into the docked Anatory battleships.

The ships shuddered and Dunya saw explosions rent along the ships superstructure, the olive hulls cracking and fraying, the closest battleship had so much firepower concentrated on it that the ships Claudia unit, protected deep within the ship past the thickest of amour must have been breached for, with a fantastic explosion a massive gout of blue fire leapt up, tearing out of the ship. With a thunderous groan heard all the way up here the massive battleship split in two and began to fall down into the far below clouds tearing the docking tower with it.

"Prepare the Jumbo Vanship's!" Mullin called, all business now. "Prepare all musket teams to land on Bartholomew, remember we're here for high ranking Anatory officers, use gas bullets only, do not attack any innocents caught in there, get as many hostages as you can and get out of there."

Dunya looked down as the two halves of the Anatory battleship vanished into the clouds, then back at Bartholomew as another Anatory battleship was treated to another withering volley of fire.

"Jumbo Vanships launch!" Mullin called.

* * *

Raymond Fenix gasped as out of the window one of the Anatory battleships on the other side of the station split in two and began to sink to the far off clouds below. 

"Come on Ray!" Ryan shouted. "We've got to get out of here!"

"Ye, yeah!" Raymond managed as all around him he could hear shouting. The Anatory soldiers we're charging back to their ships, behind him he could hear the thunder of footsteps as they dashed along the umbilical tunnel back to their ships.

"Look!" Ryan suddenly said in exclamation moving back to the window, pointing at the still descending Disith ships.

"Jumbo Vanship's launching!?" Raymond noticed after a moment. From each of the twelve Disith ships four oversized Vanship's were dropping, forty-eight in total and Raymond knew from his studies that each could carry up to twelve men in each ship.

"They must want prisoners." Ryan talked rapidly flicking his long hair nervously. "Come on, we have to go now!"

Nodding Raymond turned and together they charged down the winding passageway, coming up towards them was a mad rush of hundreds of Anatory officers and soldiers, charging to get to their ship. Raymond and Ryan had to fight their way, pushing and shoving through the mass of people to get back down to the main hall.

Finally they reached the bottom and pulling away from the never-ending stream of men they came into the great hall. Abandoned drinks and fallen tables and chairs lay everywhere. Many, many people still remained here, a few Anatory musketmen were setting up tables and chairs into makeshift defenses but the vast majority we're just trying to hide or drinking as much as they could.

"Come on, this way!" Ryan shouted and together they charged, jumping over chairs, round tables, over fallen, crushed Anatory men back towards the door leading to their hanger, so far away now.

They we're half way when the entire station shuddered, Raymond stumbled and tripped over a chair, falling painfully to the ground. Ryan stopped and grabbed his friend.

"Come on Ray! They're coming!"

Just as he finished saying that Raymond heard a nearby explosion and a wave of heat pass over him and as he stood back up shakily, helped by Ryan he saw, in the far corner of the chamber a part of the wall destroyed and a wave of Disith musketmen charging in.

They made impressive sights, each one in full battle dress, their robes and helmets hiding any hint of flesh, sex or the person behind each helmet.

Around the chamber Anatory musketmen began firing and some of the Disith fell to the ground, sprawling over tables and the like but more and more poured in. From around the rest of the giant chamber more and more Disith troops were entering through the blasted in walls. They began firing gas shots, where their shots landed a thick white fog spread out, anyone caught in it fell to the ground coughing helplessly.

As Raymond and Ryan began running again the massive chamber began to fill with smoke and the sound of coughing and gunshots.

"Almost there!" Ryan gasped. "Raymond, if one of us doesn't make it just go!"

"Be quite Ryan!" Raymond shouted back as the fog began to descend on them. "We're almost there!"

They continued to run through the fog, they could only see a few meters now in front of them however the glowing yellow lights on the door cover could be dimly made out.

They we're so, so nearly there when in front of them suddenly three, cloaked Disith troops loomed out of the fog in front of them.

"Get outta our way!" Ryan shouted charging at them; yelling with him Raymond and Ryan charged the three armored troops.

For whatever reason the Disith troops didn't open fire, maybe they we're so taken aback to see two young men charging them that they didn't think it through, then it was too late.

Ryan leapt, his knee make clear contact with the middle troops muffled neck, the man/woman fell to the ground clutching the throat with thick gloves. Raymond threw himself at the other one grabbing the trooper round the waist and bearing him to the ground in a powerful tackle.

He picked himself quickly up turning to see Ryan turning to face the last trooper but before Ryan could do anything the man rose his musket and fired point blank.

Raymond saw, almost in slow motion the thick slug smash into Ryan, lift him up and throw him to the ground several meters away.

"RYANNNN!!!!" Raymond screamed leaping off the Disith body and scrambling over to his friend.

Ryan did'nt move.

Raymond turned, tears in his eyes, filled with rage to see the barrel of a musket placed squarly at his head, it was the man he had tackled to the ground.

"Leave him." A throaty voice came from the trooper who had shot Ryan. "They're just kids."

The other trooper remained with his musket pointing squarely at Raymond. "Its you're lucky day kid, get out of here."

"You bastards, you, you've killed my friend!!!!" Raymond howled wanting to throw himself at the man.

"And he's killed one of ours." The first man said motioning at the fallen trooper with the broken neck before moving to Ryan's body. "Luckily for him i hit him with a blank shot, it'll hurt, but he'll live and we'll be taking him with us."

"No!" Raymond began to move but heard the click of the musket behind him.

"One move and I will shoot you." The second solider growled.

The first Disith solider had reached Ryan's body and hefted him up onto his shoulder and moved over to the simmering Raymond. "If you, and any of you're Anatory buddies want to see him and the others again you will take this message to Empress Sophia Forrester of Anatory." He flicked a white envelope towards Raymond. The white paper fell to the ground in front of Raymond. "Take that to her, and you may see him again."

Then he nodded to the second man and Raymond felt a crack and a sharp pain on the back of his head.

He fell to the ground and fainted.

* * *

Docena– A Disith fighting formation of twelve ships. 

Disith Clans – The council of Disith, works with the Anatory council, over time relations have strained.

Disith - Land of deserts, mountains and to the north snowy blizzards. This inbalance was solved somewhat by EXILE but it is still a hard land to live in with little water.

Anatory - Land of skies, islands and free sky-stations. After EXILE there was more water to be shared with Disith but Anatory has slowly grown more distant to the other world


	7. Chapter Four, To the Grand Stream

Many thanks to all the reviews I have received so far, i apologise for the time this has taken to write but as long as the reviews come in so will the chapters, I will continue to try and iron out the occasional spelling, grammar error (I know there are a few!) so please bear with me, anyway many thanks again.

* * *

Four

The twelve ships of the Disith Revolutionary Movement burst out of the clouds of the Grand Stream for the second time that day. By now however it was night on Disith, below the Great Disith desert stretched away in all directions, from horizon to horizon, an endless sea of shifting sands save for a few massive outcroppings of black rock.

"We have exited the Grand Stream." The lead spotter reported. "Sensors indicate that the Guild has not detected us."

"That's the second time we've been lucky today…" Dunya sighed letting out a breath she had not realised she'd been holding.

"I had expected that we would at least be approached by a Guild scout." Mullin admitted. "An unscheduled passage like this should have been challenged by them."

"Maybe they have something else on their minds." Dunya replied, her mind already back on the forty-six Anatory hostages on the ships.

"Maybe…" Mullin replied hesitantly.

"Anyway, set course for Megeth Mountain." Dunya commanded. "Let's get the hostages back to camp and wait and see if Anatory accepts our offer, if they do, mission solved and Disith will have its fair share of water as it should."

"And if they send a fleet to take back the hostages…?" Mullin asked already knowing the answer.

His wife closed her fist looking out at the sands. "Then we bury them and their fleet under the sands of Disith."

* * *

Raymond groaned, he could feel a sharp, throbbing pain from his forehead. Then suddenly, he felt a cold relieving presence on his head, a cold wet towel laid across his head. 

For a while he lay there, allowing the soothing balm of the fabric to ease the pain away, then finally he slowly sat up and opened his eyes.

He was laid out in the Anatory Vanship Union hanger bay; his Vanship lay at the end of the hanger where he and Ryan had landed it…Ryan…

"Oh you're awake!" A chirpy female voice called over from behind his Vanship, there was a slight muffled sound of gears turning and then of feet dropping to the ground.

"Who's there?" Raymond began clearing his throat as he slowly stood up, putting the cool towel that had rested on his forehead to one side.

"When I found you, you we're just outside the hanger door." The voice continued, Raymond could now make out a pair of green laced feet behind his Vanship. "I assume this Vanship belongs to you as you are a member of the Vanship Union correct?"

"Um, that's right…" Raymond replied. "How did you know…?"

"It says so on your flight jacket silly." The voice made a pleasant, ringing laugh and with that the person moved into view, coming round the Vanship to rest on its front chassis. "My name is Clarissa Hamilton."

"Clarissa …" Raymond breathed. She was a young woman, a bit younger then he, but she had a maturity he had not seen before in someone of that age, she was of average height with a long shimmering blond hair, kind eyes studied him, she was dressed in a flowing blue, form fitting dress with a backpack slung over one shoulder. "You don't come from around here do you Clarissa?" He tried.

"No, I come from Anatoras, the capital city." She replied. "My mother sent me here to visit the Grand Stream, she said I should get a more worldly knowledge of the world in which we live."

"Really? That sounds like a good idea." Raymond replied.

"Yes it was…until this attack, I hid myself in the hanger, when I saw you outside I brought you in, this letter was by your body." In her hands she held the white envelope the Disith solider had thrust at him, after they took Ryan…

"Oh." Raymond looked closely at it moving forwards over to Clarissa who handed it to him without a word, carefully looking into his eyes.

On the envelope written in plain lettering was the words 'To the Empress Sophia on behalf of all the Disith people.'

"I need to take off." Raymond found himself speaking. "This letter needs to go to Anatoras."

He moved forwards and began checking the Vanships drive shaft and chassis quickly while Clarissa watched on, everything seemed fine.

"You aren't planning to fly all the way to Anatoras now are you?" Clarissa asked with a touch of concern. "It's a seventeen hour flight and your Vanship will never make it that far on its fuel."

Raymond swore and thumped his fist against the hard hull of his Vanship. "Then I should return to the Vanship Union and inform them, they can take this letter to Anatoras, and quicker then I can."

"There is another way..." Clarissa quietly spoke up. "If we fly into the Eye of Rhonda we can reach the Guild Centre of Gradrium in the heart of the Grand Stream, it's a thirty minute flight and once there you can send the message using a Guild Drone, it could take it there in quarter of the time it would take you to fly to Anatoras."

Raymond paused for thought; Guild Drones were tiny devices that could carry letters to either the Disith or Anatory side, however the devices were expensive and could only be manufactured by the Guild, hence why they were only used for emergencies, then...

"We?" He asked in confusion.

"I came in on one of the Anatory battleships." Clarissa shrugged. "I have no money to buy a way out of here and my mother told me to travel, I would love to visit Gradrium if I can. Also you are short of a navigator, I can do that, I think, my mother showed me how."

"You're mother must be someone special..." Raymond breathed.

"I know." Clarissa. "Alvis is all that and more."

Raymond's brain twitched, had he heard that name somewhere before? No, he decided, now was not the time for such thoughts.

"I don't know..." He began. "I've never flown into the Grand Stream before...all Vanship Union pilots are to fly a message to the other side of the Grand Stream for their final exam...this is too soon."

"Well in that case, you should fly back to the Union building." Clarissa shrugged turning away.

Raymond paused, Ryan's face suddenly appeared in his brain, no he had to help as soon as he could, Ryan could be in danger!

"I'll do it!" He decided. "I'll fly into the Grand Stream and send the message by drone."

"Wonderful!" Clarissa replied turning round to face him again, her face lit up. "Will you let me help?"

"Alright" Raymond turned back to his Vanship already moving to the pilot's seat. "Are you sure though." He turned back to her. "It could be dangerous..."

He trailed off; she was already climbing up into the back seat, dress and all. "I guess so..." Raymond muttered before turning and pulling himself up into the pilot seat, reaching down and buckling on his goggles and putting on gloves.

"Clarissa, there should be a flight jacket and goggles back there." He called back. "You best put them on, in the Grand Stream the temperature is bitterly cold and with the winds speed so high a bit of grit can tear out an eye."

"Right" Clarissa's voice came back to him. "I'm ready Raymond."

"Okay then..." Raymond replied priming the ignition and watching as the Claudia pressure rose up to the correct level. "Okay, we're all ready!" He called back. "Here we go."

Pulling lightly back on the stick and applying thrust he fed power to the engine as the Vanship lifted lightly off the deck, pivoted and shot out of the hanger doors, out into the dark sky, up towards the swirling void of the Grand Stream.

* * *

Alex West carefully piloted her Vanship to a halt on the deck of the Vanship Union hanger bay. Finally she turned the engine off and vaulted off the Vanship onto the deck to see Tatiana moving over to her, gripping a clipboard. 

"Well done Alexander." Tatiana inspected the ship. "Have you the signature of the client on receiving of the message?"

"Yes ma'am, right here." She replied pulling out the folded sheet of paper from her flight jacket and passing it to Tatiana. The older woman took it and after a seconds pause made a clucking sound and made a motion on her clipboard with a pen that looked very much like a tick. "Very well then, you and Mr Du Lusic will have the final mark for the trial in three days time, until then you are free to do what you please."

Alex grimaced as the large boy finally dislodged himself from the navigator's seat and came over looking quite green. "Mrs Tatiana." He brawled. "She flew too harshly, every time I tried to but talk to her she would throw the Vanship into a sudden descent or ascent, i feel quite queasy."

"Were you're comments to Mrs West navigational observations?" Tatiana asked calmly while Alex stared daggers at the fat noble boy.

"Well...it was just on such a long voyage one felt the need to engage in playful banter..." The boy trailed off under Tatiana's stare.

"You should not have been distracting you're pilot with 'playful banter' then." Tatiana bristled. "You could have distracted you're pilot, you will visit the sickbay immediately, you seem to have a slight case of air-sickness."

Darias shot Alex a leer before swaggering off despite Tatiana's fearsome scowl. After he had moved a considerable distance away Alex asked. "Have Raymond and Ryan returned yet?"

"Not as of yet." Tatiana replied calmly. "They are travelling a considerable distance; they are not due for another four hours or so, I will inform you when they are due to return, in the meantime I suggest you go retire for the night."

"Thank you Mrs." Alex bowed. "But please, let me know when they return, she skipped off down the hanger, away from the Vanships and the watchful Tatiana.

* * *

At the Eye of Rhonda a tiny black speck, the Vanship carrying Raymond and Clarissa flew almost vertically up into the swirling passageway, up, into the Grand Stream. 

Off in the blackness of space, three squadrons of preybirds, seventy-two sleek, black ships of war accelerated away from the Terran fleet and down, down towards the swirling Grand Stream at the heart of the two planets.

* * *

Guild Drone – A very fast, one use unmanned messenger drone, due to its expenses and that it can only be manufactured by the Guild it is used to send emergency letters directly between the governments on Disith and Anatory. 


	8. Chapter Five, Hellfire

Five

People said entering the Grand Stream in a Vanship was like flying into the gates of hell itself, they said that if one fell from their Vanship or was blown out midflight they would be flung around on the winds forevermore, never knowing peace or land again. After twenty seconds Raymond Fenix believed all the superstitions and rumours, the Grand Stream was a raging vortex of sky, a bubbling, thrashing mass of wind given purpose, that purpose was to rip apart anything that moved into it.

The winds gusted and howled against his flight helmet, moisture whipped against his exposed face like fiery needles, his fingers under the protective gloves felt frosted and unresponsive.

"Follow the tunnel!!" Came the cry from behind him, twisting in his seat he turned somewhat to see Clarissa with a grim look on her face her long shimmering blond hair flung out behind her like a thrashing snake alive and possessed. Maybe she was regretting her choice to come, he couldn't blame her, he'd been a fool to let her.

He felt the Vanship lurch as a stronger gust of wind caught the suddenly fragile ship, turning back he wrenched back the joystick spinning the ship dizzily back on course. Ahead the Eye of Rhonda stretched ahead, a murky tunnel through the raging winds, if he deviated out of this swirling path the winds would tear the fragile Vanship to pieces, he had to concentrate.

Jinxing the joystick he swung the Vanship further around, bringing it closer to the middle of the murky tunnel, all around the chorus of the winds howled yet he shouted back to Clarissa desperately.

"Do you have any idea how far it is to the Gradrium, the Guild capital!?"

"I said about thirty minutes!" The shout came back, distant despite their proximity. "However with the winds helping us like this it could take half that time!"

"You call this helping!!!?" Raymond managed back as the ship shook again plunging suddenly down then up again, wobbling, then thrashing in flight.

The ship struggled on, behind the blue of Anatory had vanished, only a tiny circle of it remained where they had entered the eye but now all around was just the howling grey winds, and the thrashing tunnel through it.

Raymond held on for dear life. The Vanship buckled again, the training Vanship was only just holding together, his teeth were chattering, his goggles were misting up, his feet and hands we're shaking.

How long it really took, he was never sure. Hours, Minutes, Days, it was all that and more. For a moment the Vanship was thrashing through the Eye of Rhonda then the next minute it burst out into a calm inner 'eye' of the storm.

At the very centre of the Grand Stream, the middle of the space between the two worlds was a void, a calm spot in the great raging winds of the Grand Stream. It was here that the Guild had built their great floating city of Gradrium.

It was the second largest airborne station ever built; during the Guild War twenty years ago the previous guild capital (the largest station ever built) had been destroyed by the madness of the Guilds Maestro Delphine Eraclea, thus the headquarters of the guild had relocated to their second and only other Guild floating city, Gradrium.

Around the station nestled over twenty Guild battleships, graceful arches and edging concealed deadly efficient pulse weaponry the likes of which neither Anatory nor Disth possessed. Around the calm, dozens of Guild Starships, so named for their distinct 'star' shape cruised around in flights of five, slightly larger then a typical Vanship they too were deadly and efficient fighters.

But all this was dwarfed by Gradrium itself.

The city was like a miniature of Prester itself. Two massive, bulbous sections of the station, like two massive golf balls, each blotting out the sky, each five times the size of Bartholomew station they had left behind hung, connected together by a maze of metal corridors and branches that held them together there like entwined lovers, suspended in those dark skies.

"Incredible…" Raymond heard Clarissa's, now that the winds had been reduced somewhat he heard it a lot clearer then he had a few moments ago, caught up in the Grand Stream.

There was a sudden whining sound and three Guild starships dropped down into formation around Raymond's Vanship, Raymond took a moment to stare at them, he'd read about them in textbooks at the academy but never seen one like this, so close up. The white paintwork gleamed; the ship flew horizontally forwards, propelled by some interior means invisible to him.

"I think they're guiding us in." Clarissa unnecessarily called up to him.

"Yeah…" Raymond agreed as the starships turned slightly towards an opening in the closest section of the station. On either side two massive Guild battleships hung, guarding the entrance to Gradium.

"Looks like you made the right choice." Clarissa's voice floated forwards to him again. "You can drop me off and get that message to Anatoras no problem, mission accomplished."

"Yeah…" Raymond half heard himself reply, thinking about Ryan being taken away by the Disith men again.

Suddenly a low rumble of thunder, deep in pitch, thundered around the sky, louder then any natural thunder the sound rolled on for several seconds before subsiding.

"What was that?" Raymond spoke aloud, still on course forwards towards the hanger entrance, looming ahead of them.

"I don't know…" Clarissa replied hesitantly.

Suddenly there was a low pitch wining sound and then four, strange black shapes shot over his Vanship. They were travelling far, far faster then a Vanship could ever go, sleek, low down and shaped like a flying knife their black paint work gleamed menacingly in the tenth of the second that Raymond saw them.

Then the ships had looped up over the massive guild battleship to the side of the hanger, Raymond had a split second of seeing beams of incandescent light spit out from the noses of the ships and suddenly, the Guild battleship exploded.

The massive ship split down the middle, it just fell apart, seconds later a shockwave of heat and sound pressed against Raymond and yelling in confusion he jerked the flight stick backwards, veering away from Gradium and the mass of debris from the Guild battleship.

The other stationary battleship began to sluggishly move away but, too slow, the wreckage from the first destroyed ship smashed cruelly into it, as the ship floundered another wave of the strange black fighters drove towards it and Raymond saw the beams of blue bright light they spat and then suddenly the second Guild ship had exploded.

Clarissa behind him screamed as the flaming debris roared towards them. Raymond desperately applied thrust, looping up over the wreckage as it flew out, sound and heat washing over him. Pulling the stick up firmly he kicked the thrust and the Vanship shot up, above Gradium.

He looked around in a daze. From out of the Grand Stream dozens of these mysterious black ships had dropped, they were like nothing he had ever seen before. All around the perimeter Guild battleships were being attacked by swarms of them firing their blue bright beams of light, seconds later the entire battleship would explode in a dazzling display of light and sound.

Guild starship fighters we're responding, hundreds of them now we're sweeping out of Gradium in a cloud descending on the strange fighters but the black ships we're far faster and they swept through the swarm, blurs of bullets now flying from them, Guild fighters dropped like flies.

Then suddenly Gradiums defences came online. The massive Guild city's air defence network came alive as defensive beams of light stabbed up at the enemy fighters. Raymond watched as the black ships almost lazily drove in and out of the defence network and suddenly swarms of them we're driving towards one of the two city modules, beams of light once more stabbing out at the city.

Raymond watched in mounting disbelief, this had to be some sort of surreal nightmare, as the beams of light touched Gradiums smooth shape massive explosions issued forth, the hull turned to slag and then one half of the city was on flames. Raymond watched as the corridors holding the two parts of the city bucked and the flaming city crashed together.

"GET AWAY!!!!" Clarissa's voice suddenly screamed into his air.

Jerked back into reality Raymond yanked the stick back, pulling the Vanship into a dizzying dive as from the exploding hull of Gradium; escape pods suddenly began shooting out as Gradium turned into flames and ashes, the sound was immense, like all the fires of hell we're burning there, in those skies.

As the Vanship dived pieces of wreckage shot past them, massive pieces of Gradium, the entire city was destroyed; the Guild fleet was in flames, what were these fighters!? Raymonds mind was blurring, he could feel a buzz inside his ears getting more and more painful…

"LOOK OUT!!!" Clarissa Hamilton's voice again cut through the static. He looked behind them to see a piece of masonry and twisted metal coming right towards them.

He tried, he really did. He activated all thrust and drove the ship right but part of the wreckage caught the Claudia engine at the rear of the ship, cutting the entire section of his Vanship off.

The ship spun dizzyingly around and around, plummeting towards the Disith side of the Grand Stream. Raymond had a blurred vision above of Gradium's wreckage smashing into the Guild battleships that we're sluggishly trying to pull away, wreckage of hundreds of Guild starship fighters we're falling from the skies and only a handful of the escape pods from Graium had got clear of the blast.

He was dead now he realised, he and Clarissa we're goners, the ships Claudia drive was gone and they we're plummeting towards the Disith side of the Grand Stream, they would be torn to pieces in the howling winds or they would crash on Disith with massive force.

He could feel his head blur, above the black ships we're streaking up, out of the Grand Stream again, disappearing into the strongest winds of the Grand Stream. How could they do that…? He vaguely remembered thinking, No ship could fly into those winds and survive, he felt the plummeting acceleration all around, he closed his eyes, blackness claimed him.

* * *

Behind him Clarrissa had gone silent as well. Her eyes we're closed, her hands together, strangely calm. As the single Vanship fell into the Grand Stream a strange blue glow surrounded her, Raymond and the ship as they faded from view. Behind them fire raged across the skies. 


	9. Interval, Plans and Preparations

Hi there, another chapter coming up shortly, just going to break the action up for a sec to answer a few asked questions, again thanks for the reviews as well, its great to know that people have read this and enjoyed it, to all of you many thanks!

Question – Should the Guild have detected the ships by chapter 6? – Well yes maybe they should have however at that point in the story we've had no insight into the Guild and thus don't know if they have or have not detected them. Judging by the overwhelmingly successful attack in chapter 8 the Guild were not aware of the fleet and its purpose, either they don't have the technology to cover all of space (for example we here can only track about 1 of space above us apparently I quote ) or they mistook the fleet for space debris or rocks or just didn't respond fast enough, we'll have to wait until we meet a Guild character.

Question – How can a large Guild fleet of battleships and Starships be destroyed so easily? - The main problem here is that Preybird fighters are very powerful, very fast space/air fighters, they have duel linked kinetic cannons and have an integrated lasgun which shoots a hyper powerful beam of energy at a target (that's what they used to destroy Gradium and the guild battleships) We already know that Guild Battleships are not very good at destroying small targets (as seen in the anime where the Vanships are able to bring down an entire fleet in a few minutes by evading the battleship defences) so for an even faster space born ship to avoid the defences of a Guild battleship should be relatively simple. Also while yes, a Guild shield would provide some defence the preybirds struck without warning so…well you read the rest. Anyway, let's wait till later when maybe the Guild and the EDF meet on a more even footing. :-)

* * *

Interval – Plans and Preparations

As the preybirds docked with their respective carriers Admiral Higgins already knew that they had been successful.

He stood proud, at the centre of the bridge surrounded by the bridge men and women of the Soloist, as was proper his second in command Vice Captain James Sudler sat one side of him and the silent chairman liaison Rachel Cullivin sat to the other side watching intently.

Near the forward view screen a full size holographic screen had dropped down and was showing various images captured by the preybirds as they attacked and destroyed the archaic shield installation.

"What graceful ships…" Sudler remarked as a new image of one of the strange alien ships filled the screen, two large wings rising out, upraised bridge, striking colours. The Admiral thought they looked awfully gaudy and vulnerable, they lacked the simple functionality of the EDF ships although they were much larger then an EDF destroyer.

"Sensors indicate that these ships had shield generators integrated within the hull." An officer was reporting. "However it seems these are old models and thus take several moments to charge up, as such we were able to destroy a large faction of the alien fleet."

"And yet they were not all destroyed." The admiral remarked. "While they have older shields the ships conceal powerful weaponry." He indicated the image that showed one of the alien battleships firing bright blue beams of energy at a squad of preybirds. "It looks like a rudimentary attempt at lasgun energy weaponry, these ships could in effect put up a fight against an EDF destroyer…how many fighters did we loose?"

"We lost seven ships sir." The officer replied after checking his clipboard briefly. "Two we're shot down by those alien battleships the other five collided with enemy fighters at high speeds."

"I see…" Admiral Higgins lapsed into silence. "Adar, with the shield down, have there been any signs of where exactly EXILE could be located?"

"No sir…" The AI's voice came out of the speaker system as a moment later the shimmering miniature profile appeared in the corner of the holographic display, deep purple letters and numbers glowed where flesh should be and his eyes were burnished gold, dark rippling hair ran down the AI's back. "The ship should have been able to detect EXILE'S presence when the shield went down however we have been unable to track EXILE from this position. We may have better luck setting up scanning stations on the actual planets or from scanning closer to the planets."

"That should be our next move then." Admiral Higgins decided. "We should covertly set up scanning stations across both planets and once and only once we have located EXILE will we commit the fleet to secure it."

"Wait." Rachael Cullivin suddenly spoke up. "Adar, Freeze image."

Higgins turned to look up at the holographic display. It was now showing an image that showed the destruction of the massive shield installation. It was splitting apart and fiery debris was plunging every which way into the clouds as all around dozens of ships fled in every direction.

"Adar, magnify section twenty-four, dash, zero-six." The woman spoke smoothly but Higgins was sure, was sure he heard a hint of excitement in her words.

The AI dutifully magnified the bottom right corner of the image where, caught between fiery wreckage a small alien ship could be seen plunging into the swirling grey clouds, Higgins caught his breath suddenly, the ship was glowing a faint blue. Nearby it two other larger spherical ships that had jettisoned out of the alien shield generator could be seen as well. Probably some sort of escape pod Higgins found himself thinking grimly.

"Something caught you're interest?" He asked the Chairman liaison who was still staring at that image, her eyes half closed.

"That ship…I want you to send out a squad of marines to capture those passengers alive and bring them back to the Soloist." Rachael spoke not taking her eyes off the image.

All around the bridge Admiral Higgins heard the hum of background conversation cease and a sudden silence materialise like a sudden, bad fog broken only by Sudler taking in a sharp breath of air.

"And why exactly should we do that?" Higgins challenged her looking on her stoically.

She finally turned away from the holographic projector to fix her eyes on his. "As chairman liaison I speak with the chairman of Earth and Luna's voice, you do not have to question my orders, you have to carry them out."

"Never the less, can you explain to me why I should draw some of our military resources away to chase some alien ship and capture its occupants?" Higgins continued aware of Sudler rising to stand next to him "Our mission statements had nothing about taking prisoners; in fact we are advised to avoid all actual contact with the inhabitants of this planet."

"Also Chairman Liaison they have been sucked into the atmosphere winds between the worlds." Sudler pointed out. "They've probably been ripped out of their ship and killed, finding them would be akin to finding a needle in a metropolis."

"You are mistaken…" She spoke slowly and deliberately. "They are safe and sound within the atmospheric winds, in fact I know exactly where they are, also they are not alone." She pointed back to the screen. "If you patch me through to the marine detachment I can guide the men directly to the target, it's very close to the shield generator location."

"Nevertheless you still haven't given me an exact reason why we should risk our men on such a mission!" Higgins replied putting an edge of steel into his voice. "How do you know where they are anyway?"

"Oh admiral…" The woman smiled. "Do you not believe in the powers of the chairman liaisons…?" A short silence followed before she continued. "Anyway as for the reason I don't need to detail my reason, within the fleet there are nearly twelve thousand marines as well as twenty-four genetic troopers, a single squad of twenty-four and a dropship will suffice I think."

"…" Higgins paused for a moment. "Very well then, however they have a window of two hours before they must be pulled back for us to begin our scanning and reconnaissance missions understood?"

"Of course admiral." She smiled. "Whatever you say."

With another little smile on those red lips of hers she turned and swept out of the bridge leaving only a faint aroma of roses in the air.

* * *

Dunya looked over the sorry group of assorted Anatory hostages. The Disith ships were now safely docked within the massive mountain base at Megeth. Megeth Mountain rose up at the centre of the Great Disith Desert, a huge, red, dusty mountain of rock the Disith Revolutionary Movement had hewn out their base from an old Disith base that had been constructed during the Guild Wars. Now it was home to most of their fleet and freedom fighters. 

She paced in front of them. They had been lined up along the wall of a large, dusty cell. Behind her a group of twelve Disith gunmen watched them carefully, their rifles already raised and pointing at the hostages in case any of them should attempt to rush her.

"You know what we of the DRM want." She called out to them. "We want a return to the free trade, sharing of water between our two countries. Anatory has wronged Disith and neglected us, we have women and children dying every day because the water shipments from Anatory have stopped months ago, why is that!? Empress Sophia has not sent a reply to the dozens of couriers we have sent so it falls to us to use force to show her that the men and women of Disith will not lie down and die!"

She looked over the group. Most were young men, some met her eyes with fire and determination, others looked down refusing to meet her eyes and a few were whimpering rather pathetically.

"Now I've told you the truth and I ask you, among you are there any skilled pilots, soldiers who will join us, if you will agree to fight along side us we can guarantee you land and titles once we have had our demands met, join us and fight the tyranny of the Anatory government!"

There was a long silence from the group, then from inside the group a young man stepped out, he was not dressed in an Anatory uniform and he had the long flaxen hair of a Disith citizen. "I can fly, I'm a pilot." He announced.

Dunya looked carefully at his eyes. They we're clear and bright, she motioned to the gunmen behind her. "Take the rest of the hostages away and put them into individual cells."

As the gunmen moved forwards to begin shoving the Anatory soldiers away Dunya moved forwards to the young man and met his eyes again. "Tell me, what is you're name?"

"Ryan, Ryan Valerie."

* * *

Back in the Vanship Union girls dormitory wing Alexander West suddenly awoke in her bed. The covers had fallen from the bed and her body was drenched with sweat. Something inside her brain told her that Ryan and Raymond were in trouble, she knew it deep down inside… 

Rolling off her bed she checked the nearby chronometer. Four hours had not passed yet but if she knew Raymond and Ryan they would have made the trip in half the time. Quickly throwing on her flight gear she moved off, carefully out of her room and down towards the hanger bay. At the very least she would fly up to welcome them in, if not, she would find them and to hell with what Tatiana thought.

* * *

EDF/Guild Shields - Powerful shield systems effectively block incoming energy and solid particles, they take a few moments to warm up and can be destroyed with successive hits. Guild Shields are slightly older models hence take longer to warm up and can be destroyed quicker.

EDF dropship - 'Raiden' Class dropships can carry up to thirty-six passengers and are crewed by three pilots and two gunners. They are equipped with two side mounted kinetic turrets, 'havoc' missile launcher and a small shield generator.

Great Disith Desert - A massive expanse of great sand dunes that are mostly unmapped and uninhabited, this desert once took up over sixty percent of the Disith lands (the rest was permanent snow) however this has been reduced to forty percent since Exile's emergence, the snow has also retreated giving birth to several steppes where most of the Disith urban population can be found. 


	10. Chapter Six, The Graveyard of Guirovagen

I hope to make this quite a long novel which might explain for the time I'm taking getting this started, if you're looking for massive pitched battles please wait patiently, I hope to fulfil you're wishes later in the story! Thanks again for reading!

* * *

Six

It was the howl that woke him. A never-ending whistle that sounded like shrieking metal on metal, then he felt cold air washing over his face.

He opened his eyes.

Raymond's cockpit seat fuzzed into view. The Vanship had crash landed on some sort of massive construct. A huge, tangled mass of twisted metal, all around rubble and wreckage lay, blacked and useless. To the right he could see half a Guild Battleship, split in two, dark with age and rust, to the left hundreds of cracked, warped ships lay, stretching on. All around the clouds blurred and whistled, howling its rage.

Suddenly Raymond remembered Clarissa, turning, twisting in his seat he turned round to see her bent over the co-pilot seat, her long hair draped over her, still and silent.

"Clarissa?" Raymond tried, his words seemingly lost in the howling winds.

With difficulty he pulled out the flight straps and crawled out across the hull of the Vanship to the backseat and unbuckled her flight straps and checked her throat. It bobbed in and out, she was still breathing and he could see no visible injury.

Deciding on a course of action he carefully lifted her, she was strangely light, but that made it easy to hoist her up and out of her seat, resting her on the Vanships hull. From there Raymond slid off the ship, landing on the strange, twisted metal below him. Reaching up, he pulled her off and staggered several dozen meters to a nearby wreck of a Guild Starship with its legs extended, leaning forwards, a makeshift shelter from the winds.

Carefully lowering her down to the, floor? He laid her out in the shelter, here the wind did not reach them so easily and it felt safer then it had been out there in the Vanship, exposed to the fury of the Grand Stream.

Raymond sat back next to her head; she almost appeared to be sleeping and seemed to be at peace giving Raymond sometime to think.

Where was this? It looked like some sort of…scrap yard of forgotten ships, most of them Guild but in the far distance Raymond could see the bow of an Anatory Battleship and several dozen Disith ships dotting the horizon, it was like a scene from a nightmare, it was cold and bleak and the Grand Stream roared all around them but this place itself appeared to be in a lull, much like the Guild city of Gradrium.

At the thought of the massive city, so suddenly destroyed Raymond fell glum. What were those strange attackers? How had he and Clarissa survived? What was going to happen to them now?

He looked back out at his Vanship, the Claudia drive at the rear had been sheared off, without it the ship would not be able to generate 'lift' and would be unable to take off…perhaps, in a graveyard of destroyed ships he might be able to find a replacement…

Suddenly the Guild Starship they were sheltering under shuddered.

Raymond leapt up violently; he could hear metal nearby being trod on, someone…or something was nearby and coming closer.

Looking around he saw a small piece of sharp metal, a segment of the Guild Starships leg, carefully picking it up he stood and moved in front of Clarissa as the sounds drew nearer. Then, gritting his teeth he leapt out of the shelter of the ship, spinning and turning to face whatever was coming towards him…

He had a split second of seeing a white figure approaching him, just a few meters away when suddenly something smacked into him from his right, a hand wrenched the metal from his hands and something made contact with his right leg. He span and fell, hard, to that twisted ground, someone had grabbed his right hand and twisted it back, Raymond struggled, caught and pinned in this vice-like grip.

"Enough Arias, loosen him." A male voice called out abruptly.

"As you wish lord." A softer male voice replied and Raymond felt the hand pinning his hand back release and his hand dropped down to the ground next to him.

"Can you stand?" The voice asked again. "I apologise for my bodyguards lack of restrain but I will admit that recent events have left them and myself somewhat shaken."

Summoning his strength Raymond pushed himself off the ground and turned to face the figure.

He was a tall, older man dressed in the traditional white cloak of the Guild, long white hair swept back over his head, a ponytail held back a long thread of his hair at his back. Next to him stood three other Guild members dressed similarly, each stamped with a Guild symbol on the forehead, two men with similar silvery-white hair and the third a woman with short brown hair holding a wicked scythe in her hands.

Raymond looked again over the man facing him. "Who are you?"

"Me?" The man replied. "My name is Dio, Maestro Dio Eraclea of the Guild and these are my bodyguards Arias" he nodded to the nearest man on his right. "Matthias" the other man, "and Elaine" the woman with the scythe, "We were able to escape Gradrium by pure chance in one of the city's escape pods, however as you might have guessed we crash landed here, we also saw you're Vanship crash from a distance, we would never have guessed you might have survived but I decided to check and, here we are."

"Where is this anyway?" Raymond asked looking around again. "Like some sort of Graveyard…"

"And you are not far wrong." Dio agreed nodding. "This is the 'Despache Cemitério' or the Ships Graveyard of Guriovagen, it's made up entirely of ships that have been destroyed or lost in the Grand Stream. They all end up here, born by the currents in the winds to this place, once this was the first Guild city hundreds of years ago but today…" He motioned around them with his gloved hands. "It's a graveyard for ships and other lost things."

"Lost things…?" Raymond repeated slowly.

"Why yes, much like us wouldn't you think?" Dio laughed shortly and abruptly. "Once, twenty years ago I was lost and found here, this place was once my salvation and today, I wonder what it will be, our salvation or our tomb."

"Do you know a way off here?" Raymond asked.

"I'm not sure…" Dio mused for a few seconds before looking past Raymond towards the Vanship. "Matthias, Elaine, go and look at the condition of the Vanship."

"My lord." They both bowed and they swiftly moved away towards Raymond's Vanship.

"It's no good…" Raymond faltered. "The Claudia drive has been sheared off, it'll never be controllable…"

"Ah but you seem to forget we are in a graveyard of dead ships." Dio smiled, his hair whipping in the wind. "If that is all that is broken we may well be able to find a replacement somewhere."

"I see…" Raymond slowly replied feeling a little bit of hope inside him.

"Now then, it is cold and unsheltered out here." Dio spoke suddenly. "Allow me to make better use of this shelter of yours." He indicated the Guild Starship wreckage.

"O…of course." Raymond turned and awkwardly moved down the pile of wreckage and back round into the shelter where Clarissa's prone body still laid, her chest rising and falling in slow, steady breaths.

"What do we have here?" Dio asked in sudden interest as he moved into the cover followed by his final bodyguard. "I take it she is with you?"

"Yes with me, her names Clarissa Hamilton." Raymond replied awkwardly.

"Clarissa…Hamilton?" Dio repeated, Raymond was sure for a split second he saw a flash of recognition in his eyes.

"Y, yes…" Raymond looked carefully at the bodyguard, Arias, the large thick-set man who was watching the outside, his back turned to them.

"Clarissa Hamilton eh?" Dio's words were low and drawn out. "You say that the drive shaft was sheared off when you crashed?"

"No, it was sheared off at Gradrium, a piece of wreckage hit us, I was knocked unconscious, it's a miracle the both of us are alive."

"Yes…yes indeed." Dio replied, his voice still low and soft. "She must have her mother's gift then…"

"Sorry?" Raymond asked, rather worried by his tone.

"Oh nothing, I was just thinking aloud Chandelle." Dio looked back up at Raymond and smiled, cocking his head slightly to one side.

"Chandelle? Did you mean me?" Raymond asked in confusion.

"Yep." Dio smiled again. "Some twenty years ago I had a friend called Immelmann and he flew a vanship just like you do and we became good friends, now I call you Chandelle like I called him because I'm sure we can become good friends too."

"Erm, yeah I'm sure we can, but Chandelle!? That's not even a name." Raymond blurted in confusion and Dio rose a finger to his lip.

"Hush, we wouldn't want to wake the princess." He then smiled again enigmatically.

Before Raymond could muster a reply to the strange man a voice suddenly drew him.

"My lord, there is no damage to the Vanship apart from the loss of the Claudia drive shaft."

The two bodyguards had returned without making a single sound and Raymond hadn't even been aware of their presence until they had spoken.

"Very well then, Arias, Mathias, go and scour the wreckage near our positions, find me a similar Claudia drive shaft and a means to attach it to this craft." Dio spoke briskly, his eyes flicking back to Clarissa for a split second.

"Yes my lord." The two men replied and with a whisper on the wind they swiftly moved out of the shelter and were gone while the woman with the scythe (Elaine?) moved to take the exact same position Arias had stood in.

"Now then Chandelle." Dio folded the rear of his guild coat out and sat down. "We will not have long to wait, tell me the story that brought you here along with the one you call Clarissa Hamilton…"

* * *

Dunya led the young Ryan Valerie into the massive Disith Revolutionary movement hanger bay, gorged out inside Megeth Mountain. So far the young man had impressed Dunya, he obviously despised Anatory and his mind was fast and sharp and it seemed he was a keen flyer but so far he had been tight lipped about his past. So it had been that Dunya had decided to show him the power he would be able to control…

"These are the ships you will fly in our service." Dunya pointed to a cluster of twelve deadly Vanships, however they were as different from traditional Vanships as the moon was from the sun.

They were slightly longer, thinner and had two Claudia turbines at the rear, four gun turrets protruded out of the ships front, the traditional silver paintwork had been replaced by a blazing red and black coat. It was a predator built for only one thing, to be seen, and to be feared.

"Very impressive." Ryan replied looking upon the ships with clear admiration which Dunya approved of.

"Yes they are, aren't they?" Dunya smiled, it was time to make her move. "I have decided to send Anatory another clear message of our determination to have justice for our people, we have a target and all we need are flyers, I am prepared to give you one of these Vanship Predators if you will swear allegiance to me and the Disith Revolutionary Movement."

"…I, Ryan Valeria do hear swear to pledge myself to the Disith Revolutionary Movement, to achieve justice for the Disith people." He spoke after only a moment's pause but Dunya could see a question in his eyes, she wasn't a hundred and ten percent sure she could trust him, so she needed to do one more thing…

"Very well then." She put happiness into her voice. "Then the last thing you must do is the rite of passage into the DRM."

"Rite of passage?" Ryan asked, put on guard.

"A device we stole from the Guild some years ago, it is used to ease the memories you have inside you and make you stronger, quicker and more loyal to us." Dunya spoke easily as she signaled for two Disith guards to come up and stand behind the young man.

"I dunno…that sounds almost like some sort of brainwashing machine." Ryan slowly took a step back towards the guards he hadn't seen.

Dunya made a motion with her finger and the two men took Ryan from behind, each restraining an arm and holding him in place, a look of anger passed over the young man and he struggled but was held in check.

"Take him to it." Dunya nodded to the men before looking down to meet Ryan's blazing eyes. "This will make you completely loyal to us, you will thank us, I know."

Ryan struggled again but the two guards were both large, heavy men and they picked him up and moved away, as he was dragged away from Dunya she heard him cry out two words.

"Raymond!... Alex!..."

His cries were muffled as he was yanked out of her earshot.

* * *

The Raiden class EDF dropship descended into the swirling clouds between the two worlds.

Inside the buffeting ship the three pilots kept their hands steady on the controls as on their HUD a marker point direct from the Chairman Liaison appeared on screen.

One of the pilots made a slight adjustment to the controls, part of him wondered how on earth the Chairman liaison had any idea where their target was located but then he thought better of questioning her powers. They had all heard the stories…

In the main cabin the squad of twenty-four marines adjusted their helmets. Fully dressed in body amour and full-face respiration helmets they made imposing sights. They meticulously checked over their compliments of grenades, and carbines, everything was in order.

"Attention, we should be at the target in about fifteen minutes!" One of the pilots announced from the front over the speakers.

The marines moved to sit, final checkouts still being made, they knew their mission.

They would succeed.

* * *

Alex flew over the grey shape of Bartholomew at night, part of her could not believe the number of rules she had broken tonight. She had actually broken into Tatiana's office to find out the mission Raymond and Ryan had been sent on and now here she was only to find out that a single white Vanship had been seen flying up, up into the Grand Stream through the Eye of Rhonda…

She looked up at the boiling mass of clouds above her, the whirlpool of wind that was the Eye of Rhonda, would she go that far….?

She made the choice, pulling back on the stick she rocketed up towards the Eye of Rhonda.

* * *

Vanship Predators – Very advance Vanships that are twice as fast and more maneuverable then traditional Vanships. They are also armed with four, forwards machine guns but this comes at the cost of less armor and greater fuel consumption.

Guriovagen – Also known as the Graveyard of Ships, currents in the Grand Stream carry wreckage and lost ships to this location where they pile up on what remains of one of the Guilds first cities, even people lost in the Grand Stream have survived and been rescued from here once in a while.

Chandelle – A type of flight manoeuvre in the same bracket as an Immelmann turn. It is literally a tight aerial turn used to demonstrate ones proficiency at flying.


End file.
